Standards and Training for Corrections (STC) Evaluation and Research Design

The Standards and training for Corrections (STC) Program within the Board of Corrections sets standards for the selection and training of local correction agencies personnel. STC fulfills this mandate by conducting research that results in validated selection procedures (such as employment tests) and by certifying training. Thus the STC Program is specifically interested in determining and ensuring that:

• the selection standards are operating in an efficient and effective manner in order to select the most qualified personnel;
• the training courses are relevant and effective in maintaining and improving the competence of California’s local correctional personnel; and,
• the selection and training standards are established and maintained in a manner that assists local corrections agencies.

The core of the STC’s Program historical and continuing evaluation and research philosophy includes:

1. Validation, Revalidation and Evaluation of the Selection and Training Standards. This includes the maintenance of the standards and the steps that must be taken to ensure the continued relevancy, validity and defensibility of the standards. These steps include planned and scheduled revalidation research projects focusing on the job tasks and responsibilities of local corrections personnel, revalidation of the selection standards for these personnel, and the revalidation of their core training curricula. Another critical procedure in this process is the monitoring of the implementation of these standards by the local corrections agencies.
2. Inclusion of Local Corrections and Human Resources Personnel. The STC Program enlists representatives from local corrections agencies in each step of the validation and revalidation of the selection and training standards. Thousands of job incumbents, supervisors and human resource personnel participate in this process. They are critical for the accumulation and evaluation of the research data. During these phases the confidentiality of responses by job incumbents to the research instruments is maintained to ensure the gathering of truthful, candid and complete information.
3. Evaluation of STC training interventions. This involves the determination of the relevancy of proposed and active training courses, the on-site monitoring of course presentations, the provision of instructor development interventions, and the measurement of course evaluations presented by students, employers and presenters.
4. Program Evaluation and Data Base Development. This includes the development and maintenance of four major data bases; the correctional jobs database, the participating agency specific Annual Training Plan database, the Certified Training database, and the Training Course Evaluations database. Data that is entered into these databases is methodically and routinely gathered and analyzed.
5. Field Attitude Survey. Local corrections agencies are routinely surveyed in order to obtain data pertaining to the effectiveness of the STC Program as determined by the local corrections constituent population.
6. Future STC Research. The STC Program is dedicated to improving and maintaining the competence of California’s local corrections personnel. Thus STC maintains a partnership with the local corrections community to determine future research needs. Products of past and present research may be found on the Board of Corrections STC web page.